Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Nuclear industry wants Canada to lift ban on reprocessing plutonium, despite proliferation risks

Plutonium is “the stuff out of which atomic bombs are made.” Plutonium can also be used as a nuclear fuel. Reprocessing is any technology that extracts plutonium from used nuclear fuel. In Canada, the ...
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Canadian reactors that “recycle” plutonium would create more problems than they solve

In 2021, nine US nonproliferation experts sent an open letter to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In their letter, the experts expressed their concern that the Canadian government was actually ...
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US scientists trap single plutonium atom inside tiny molecular cage

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have trapped a single plutonium atom inside a tiny molecular cage, using only six micrograms of the radioactive metal. The work turns an element ...
National Academies of Sciences%2c Engineering%2c and Medicine

Improving the Scientific Basis for Managing DOE's Excess Nuclear Materials and Spent Nuclear Fuel

DOE’s efforts to manage surplus Pu-239 have been guided by the recommendations of a 1994 National Academy of Sciences study of plutonium disposition. The study made four specific recommendations (NAS, ...